Ledyard — On Monday, 14-year-old Conor Irwin lost a 10-day battle that began when he tumbled from his longboard skateboard Nov. 25, severely damaging his brain.

On Tuesday, a devastated Holly Robertson Irwin tried to find words to describe her son.

“He’s this 90-year-old, World War II type of gentleman,” she said. “That’s who he is in a 14-year-old's body.”

If she had groceries, he’d bring them inside.

If someone was walking near him, he’d hold the door open.

When his 12-year-old sister, Gretchen, fantasized about her first homecoming dance, he promised he’d give her a ride.

Once, Holly Irwin said, she spotted him seated on the swinging ship ride at the Ledyard Fair, his best friend on his right, a little boy on his left.

“The farther you are toward the back, the more you come out of your seat,” she began. “Every time they were up in the air, I saw him take his left arm and put it across the little boy to keep him safe."

“He did that not because anybody told him to, but because that’s who he is,” she said.

At 4:26 p.m. Monday, Conor "passed away peacefully" at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, according to a post his father, Whit Irwin, wrote at caringbridge.org that night.

Fourteen years, seven months and two days, he wrote, "will never be long enough."

In earlier posts, Whit Irwin described what happened the day after Thanksgiving.

Conor, he explained, had invited some friends over that afternoon for a trip to the trampoline park. While they were waiting for a ride there, they asked to go to a nearby cul-de-sac to "wheel around."

That's when Conor went down a hill, turned a corner, skidded on some leaves and was thrown from his longboard.

The back of his head hit the pavement, knocking him unconscious. A CT scan later revealed a skull fracture as well as brain bruising. Conor, who was in the medical center's pediatric intensive care unit, had two surgeries while hospitalized.

"It is truly one day at a time right now," Whit Irwin wrote Saturday, thanking the “amazing and caring groups of people” who had been offering support.

The Ledyard High School freshman's death left the community reeling. Friends of the family took to Facebook to express condolences and offer support. Students expressed disbelief and sorrow on Twitter and flooded the newly created Instagram account "remember_conor" with photos of him, typically smiling or making some kind of funny face.

On Tuesday, Naomi Rodriguez, a close friend of the family, described Conor as "such a bright light."

"He bounced into every room and everybody noticed," she said of the tall boy with "blond, blond hair."

Rodriguez said she has been friends with the family since her son, Aidan, attended kindergarten with Conor and the two of them became friends. The bond only strengthened when, many years ago, the boys began playing soccer under coach Maik Schuler, Rodriguez’s husband.

"He was the best friend anybody could ever have," she said of Conor.

As she and her husband did, the Irwins came to the area for work. Whit is a retired member of the U.S. Coast Guard and Holly teaches at Sacred Heart School in Groton.

“Our relatives live far away, their relatives live far away,” Rodriguez said. “You make a connection in those situations. Your friends become family."

She set up a Dime Bank account for the family last week to help them purchase food and other necessities while they were at the hospital nearly around the clock. Now, it will help them cover the costs of a funeral.

Reflecting, Holly Irwin spoke highly of Conor’s intelligence. In third grade, he sometimes passed on action and adventure books to learn about tectonic plates and magma. An information absorber, he’d tell his mom his classes were too easy whenever they stumbled upon something he’d already learned.

And then there’s the bowtie.

It started when Conor wanted to spruce up his uniform at St. Bernard School. A confident boy, he opted for the bowtie. Teachers there loved it, and so, too, did his classmates: At the eighth-grade dance, almost all the boys showed up wearing bowties.

At Ledyard High School on Monday, students and teachers dressed in their best as a tribute to Conor — a showing sophomore Ben Vajdos orchestrated.

Vajdos said he’d known Conor for a few years, but became closer to him during this year’s cross-country season.

“I was a little worried that only a few people would actually dress up, but when I walked in the doors today I was astounded,” Ben said Monday.

On Tuesday, the school dressed in green, a color associated with traumatic brain injury awareness and support. The library was designated as a spot where students could go for help or for quiet time.

“There are all kinds of kids that go to school,” Holly Irwin said. “He’s one everybody loved.”

In describing her relationship with her son, Holly Irwin likened herself to a puppy who always was following Conor around — to soccer games, to cross-country meets, to events where he played trombone.

“We have a thing: Every morning when I drop him off, he leans over and gives me a kiss,” she said. “I tell him, ‘I love you.’ He says, ‘I love you, Momma.’ I say, ‘Have a great day.’ And he says, ‘I will.’”

Her advice to other parents follows along those lines.

“Say ‘I love you’ and mean it,” she said. “Because you never know if that’s the last time they’re going to hear it, and you want to make sure that they feel it.”

l.boyle@theday.com

To donate to the Irwin family:

Stop in Dime Bank in person or send donations to the following address: Attn: Colette C. Ladd, Dime Bank, P.O. Box 50, Ledyard, CT 06339. Checks need to be made payable to Holly Robertson Irwin and "Helping Hand Fund" must be written in the memo.

Those who wish to donate online can visit a page set up for the family at www.gofundme.com/conors-memorial-fund.